Use other forms of greeting
Pronounce Tagalog words with the correct word stress
Refer to things by using pronouns: itó, iyán, iyón
Use Oo, hindî; na, pa; ba; ngâ
Other greetings
§ 1. Here are other forms of greeting: Click here to listen.

Greeting
English

1. Magandáng umaga (pô).
Good morning.

2. Magandáng hapon (pô).
Good afternoon.

3. Magandáng gabí (pô).
Good evening.

4. Aalís na (pô) akó.
Formal good-bye.

5. Sigé (pô).
Casual “see you later”

6. Maligayang batì (pô).
Congratulations!

7. Maligayang kaarawán (pô).
Happy birthday!

8. Ingat (pô).
Take care.

9. Salamat (pô).
Thank you.

10. Waláng (pong) anumán.
(answer to “thank you”)

§ 2. Pagsásanay. Exercise. What do you say in response to the following? Cover the rightmost column of the table. Look at the answer only if you really have to.

You are given
You say
Answer

1. Magandáng umaga.

Magandáng umaga rin.

2. Magandáng hapon.

Magandáng hapon rin.

3. Magandáng gabí.

Magandáng gabí rin.

4. Aalís na akó.

Sigé.

5. Sigé.

Sigé.

6. Maligayang batì.

Salamat.

7. Maligayang kaarawán.

Salamat.

8. Ingat.

Ingat.

9. Salamat.

Waláng anumán.

§ 3. Here are some more frequently used phrases :
Tagalog
English

Aywán.[1]
I don’t know.

2. Alám ko.
I know.

Hindî ko alám.
I don’t know.

4. Walâ akóng alám.
I know nothing.

Alám ko (po ).
I know.

6. Hindî ko (po ) alám.
I don’t know.

Paki.
Please.

8. Paki-ulit (po ).
Please repeat.

Hindî ko (po ) narinig.
I didn’t hear.

10. Hindî ko (po ) na -i-in -tin-di-han.
I don’t understand.

Paciencia ka na .
I’m sorry (casual).

12. Paciencia na po kayó.
I’m sorry (respectful).

13. Pakibagalan mo.
Please slow down. (casual).

14. Pakibagalan po ninyo.
Please slow down (respectful).

§ 4. Conversation Practice. Practice the following brief conversations. They consist of some very useful words and phrases.

Tao 1
Alám mo ba?

Tao 2
Hindi ko alám.

Tao 1
Paki-ulit ngâ.

Tao 1
Alám mo ba?

Tao 2
Hindi ko po alám.

Tao 1
Paki-ulit ngâ po.

Tao 1
Alám mo ba?

Tao 2
Oo, alám ko.

Tao 1
Alám mo ba?

Tao 2
Opo, alám ko po.

Tao 1
Paciencia ka na. Hindi ko narinig. Pakiulit ngâ.

Tao 1

Paciencia na po kayo. Hindi ko po narinig. Pakiulit ngâ po.

Tao 1
Hindi ko naiintindihan. Pakiulit ngâ.

Tao 1
Hindi ko po naiintindihan. Pakiulit ngâ po.

Tao 1
Pakibagalan mo ngâ.

Tao 1
Pakibagalan ngâ po ninyo.

Oo at hindî; na at pa; ba; ngâ
§ 5. Oo at opò. Say oo to say yes to your peers or people younger than you . Say opo to yes to people you respect.

§ 6. Hindî at hindî pô. Say hindi to say no to persons your age or younger. Say hindi po to people older than you . Hindi translates both the English words no and not.

Mga Halimbawà. Examples.

Oo
Hindî
Hint

Gutóm siya.
Hindi siyá gutóm.
Gutóm = hungry

Matabâ po akó.
Hindi po akó matabâ.
Matabâ = fat

Payát si Kikò.
Hindi payát si Kikò.
Payát = thin

Masaráp ang pagkain.
Hindi masaráp ang pagkain.
Masaráp = delicious

§ 7. Na at pa. Use na to express already. Use hindî pa to express not yet.

already
yet

na
pa

Na and pa are rich in meaning. This table of expectations should help.

What the speaker expects
What the kausap expects

1. Kumain na ako
No expectation.
Speaker hasn’t eaten

2. Kakain pa lang ako
No expectation.

Speaker has eaten

3. Kakain ka pa
Kausap should not eat
No expectation.

4. Kumain ka na (1)

Kausap has already eaten and should not now eat
No expectation.

5. Kain na! Short for “Kumain ka na” (2)
Kausap has not eaten and should now eat
No expectation.

Mga Halimbawà. Examples.

Already
Not yet

Kumain ka na.
Hindî ka pa kumain.

Dumating na silá.
Hindî pa silá dumating.

Gutóm na siyá.
Hindî pa siyá gutóm.

Kumain na akó.
Hindî pa akó kumain.

§ 8. Ngâ. This word has many uses. One of them is to indicate a request. Add it to your sentence when asking for something (something concrete, not information). Remember, there are many other uses of ngâ.

Mga Halimbawà. Examples.

Tagalog
English

Isang basong tubig nga.
A glass of water, please.

Paki-abot nga ang asin.
Please pass the salt.

§ 9. Pagsásanay. You will be given a sentence in the past form in the affirmative . Rewrite the sentence in the negative.

Mga Halimbawà. Examples.

You are given
You answer
Answer

Kumain na akó.
Hindî pa akó kumain.
Hindî pa akó kumain.

You answer

1. Kumain na kamí.
Hindí pa kamí kumain.

2. Umalís na siyá.

3. Umalís ka na.

4. Dumatíng na tayo.

5. Dumatíng na silá sa bahay[2] nilá[3] .

6. Umalís na tayo dito.[4]

7. Pumuntá[5] na tayo doón.[6]

§ 10. A declarative sentence or statement is one that says something. A question is a sentence that asks something. An imperative sentence is one that expresses a command or instruction.
§ 11. Ba. Turn a statement into a yes-or-no question by adding ba . (This is only for yes-or-no questions. For other types of questions you will use an interrogative such as: sino, who; anó, what; kailán, when; saán, where; bakit, why; and paano, how.)

Statement
Question
English

1. Kumain ka na.
Kumain ka na ba?
Kumain = to eat

2. Dumating na silá.
Dumating na ba silá?
Dumating = to arrive

3. Gutóm siyá.
Gutóm ba siyá?
Gutóm = hungry

4. Matabâ akó.
Matabâ ba akó?
Matabâ = fat

5. Payát si Kikò.
Payát ba si Kikò?
Payát = thin

6. Masaráp ang pagkain.
Masaráp ba ang pagkain?
Masaráp = delicious

Stress and accents
§ 12. Word stress. Tagalog has four types of word stress: a) malumay, b) malumì, c) mabilís and d) maragsâ. Listen to the instructor or the recording and follow along.

Name of Stress
Place of Stress

Accent Mark

Halimbawà[7]

1. malumay
penult[8]
no accent mark
gising

2. malumì
penult
pahiwà, grave (`)
mahinà

3. mabilís
last syllable
pahilís, acute (‘)
gisíng

4. maragsâ
last syllable
pakupyâ, circumflex (^)
matabâ

§ 13. Malumay. Place the emphasis on the penultimate or semifinal syllable. There is no accent mark.

Mga halimbawà. Examples. Pronounce the following words. Repeat after the instructor or the recording.

bumangon

gumising

kumain

mag-agahan

magbayad

magbihis

maghapunan

maghilamos

magmano

magmerienda

magsapatos

magsipilyo

magtrabaho

matulog

tumae

§ 14. Malumì. Place the emphasis on the penultimate or semifinal syllable. Mark the last vowel with a grave accent (`), called pahiwà in Tagalog. Note that accent marks are only placed on vowels. Consonants never have accent marks.

Mga halimbawà. Examples. Pronounce the following words. Repeat after the instructor or the recording.

awà

halimbawà

kikò

kusà

maglutò

maligò

nabalì

tamà

umihi

§ 15. Mabilís. Place the emphasis on the last syllable. Mark the last vowel with an acute accent (^), called pahilís in Tagalog.

Mga halimbawà. Examples. Pronounce the following words. Repeat after the instructor or the recording.

alisín

lumabás

lumangóy

magdasál

maghintáy

magpuntá

mayroón

pumuntá

puntahán

sumakáy

umakyát

uminóm

§ 16. Maragsâ. Place the emphasis on the last syllable. Mark the last vowel with a circumflex accent (^), called pakupyâ in Tagalog.

Mga halimbawà. Examples. Pronounce the following words. Repeat after the instructor or the recording.

bumabâ

hiyâ

humandâ

humintô

maghandâ

magsimulâ

mahigâ

umupô

umuwî

walâ

§ 17. Accent marks are important and useful: they tell you how to pronounce words.
§ 18. There is another reason why accents are important. Two words with the same spelling can have two different meanings, depending on pronunciation.
§ 19. More examples.

Word
Accent
English
Example

1. mamilì
malumì
to choose
O sige, Kikò, mamilì ka na ng gustó mo.

2. mamilí

mabilís

to go shopping

Kailangan nating mamili ng mailulutò para bukas.

3. tayo
malumay
we (incl.)
Tayo ay magpapasyal sa Luneta.

4. tayô
maragsâ
stand!
Tayô po tayong lahát!

5. kaya
malumay
can, is able to
Kaya mo bang lumangóy?

6. kayâ

maragsâ

a particle used in questions or explanations
Kaya kayâ niyáng lumangóy. Can he (she) swim? Use kayâ expresses doubt.

Pronouns for things: Itó, iyán, iyón
§ 21. Itó, iyán and iyon are the pronouns you use for things. These pronouns serve two purposes: 1) when used alone, to refer to things like the English word it and 2) when used in combination with a noun, to point to persons, places and things like the English words this and that.

Mga Halimbawà. Examples.

Tagalog
English

Itó ay maingay.

It is noisy. (Something, not a person, perhaps a dog, is noisy. In contrast, to say a person is noisy, you say: “Siya ay maingay.”)

Itóng tao ay maingay. Maingay ang taong ito.
This person is noisy.

§ 22. Use itó to express this or it.
§ 23. Use iyán to express that, near the kausap, the person to whom you are speaking.
§ 24. Use iyon to express that, far from the kausap.

itó
this

iyán
that, near the kausap

iyon
that, far from both speaker and kausap

Mga Halimbawà. Examples.

Tagalog
English

1. Itó ay aking libró.
This is my book.

2. Sa iyó by iyón?
Is that (far from you) yours?

3. Huwág mong galawín iyán.
Don’t touch that (near you).

4. Itó si Charina.
This is Charina.

5. Siyá si Charina.
She is Charina.

§ 25. What do you call the person to whom you are speaking?

The person to whom you are speaking

Conversations
By now you can expect to engage in conversations like the following. Go ahead and practice these conversations in Tagalog. And invent your own!

Thanks for posting some Tagalog lessons. I have a friend that speaks Tagalog, and now I can test this out on him =). He was telling me that he thinks Tagalog is very similar to spanish. I'm not sure about that, what do you think?

Merienda, coche are derived from Spanish. These are borrowed words which were converted to kotse, pasensiya et al in order to coincide with the structure of Tagalog.

According to this website:

http://www.answers.com/topic/spanish-creole

Tagalog
Tagalog, which is the most widely spoken indigenous language in the Philippines, has adopted into its vocabulary a large number of words from Spanish. Other indigenous languages in the Philippines, such as Cebuano, have significantly also absorbed Spanish words.

Like Chamorro, Tagalog belongs to the Western Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian family of languages.

Most often the words adopted referred to foreign concepts such as the names of the days of the week and the names of months; such as the word Huwebes (Spanish, Jueves meaning Thursday) and Mayo (Spanish, Mayo meaning May). The Spanish decimals are also often used for counting currency, revealing one's age or telling time.

This adoption of words also gave rise to the curious phenomenon of two or more words referring to the same concept. For instance, the Tagalog word for chair is either the native upuan or the Spanish-based silya (from silla); or the word for city can be the native lungsod or syudad (Spanish, ciudad).

Here is an sample sentence: In Spanish, "Can you turn on the fan by the window?" is "¿Puede encender el ventilador de la ventana?", in Tagalog, it is "Puwede (puede) buksan ang bentilador (ventilador)na malapit sa bintana (ventana).

Tagalog became the basis of the Philippines' national language, Filipino.

- Alequin:) I like the order of the lessons, very organized. I'll say a few lines, I hope it's just fine...

Yes, that's what I meant. Those terms were borrowed from the Spanish language, no problem about that. But when you use pure Spanish words in teaching Tagalog, I think our identity is somehow diminished, because those are definitely not Filipino terms.

We have our own: pasyensiya (although borrowed, the spelling hints a Filipino identity), or (here's a more Filipino word for paciencia: paumanhin) meryenda or (if one really wants a particularly Filipino term for it): minindal is the word. Kotse: sasakyan or oto.

While a good portion of our language is admittedly borrowed, I am of the opinion that in cases when you use the "Filipinized" words, and not the pure Spanish equivalent, it is still Filipino. Not only that using pure Spanish terms in teaching Filipino is tantamount to sharing what is not ours, it also poses to endanger our language's existence.

- So true, and I'm glad that my point is seen, especially when I stressed the point that using pure Spanish words in teaching Filipino is a bit alarming if we are one in the intention of preserving that which is rightfully a Filipino language. Aside from that, if we use pure Spanish words in our effort to share the language, those interested to learn Filipino could be misled.